Sunday's AFC championship game is also game time for Denver police, who will be out in force to keep post-playoff revelry in check.

The department has no way of knowing whether a Broncos win or loss against the New England Patriots will impact officers' workload when it comes to violent crime, but some are hoping for a victory not just because they're fans.

Researchers who studied NFL games, including those involving the Broncos and Patriots, found that when the home team loses in an upset, police see a sudden and brief uptick in domestic violence. The more pivotal the game and the more heated the rivalry, the sharper the spike.

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Victims' advocates say the outcome of a football game is no reason or excuse for domestic abuse, but Denver police are aware of the possibility of more family violence — and crime in general — as a result of the game.

With the Broncos favored to beat the Patriots, police say they want to be prepared for anything.

"It's definitely something we're concerned about, and we pay attention to it," said Cmdr. Paul Pazen, whose District 1 station encompasses Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Without revealing specifics, he said extra officers will be on hand inside and outside the stadium to deal with the influx of problems that naturally arise when more than 76,000 fans pack the stands — and thousands more party in bars and parking lots nearby.

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Officers who patrol the rest of the district will get a roll-call reminder of the possibility of more domestic disputes and how to calm them.

Police were particularly concerned after the San Diego Chargers beat the Broncos at home in December but didn't see a rise in domestic incidents, Pazen said. Still, three people were stabbed in a parking lot outside the stadium that night, an attack sparked by a minor fender-bender. A man was killed outside Arrowhead Stadium after the Broncos beat the Chiefs in Kansas City two weeks earlier.

David Card and Gordon Dahl, researchers who studied football and police reports from 1995 to 2006, looked specifically at the games' impacts on domestic violence.

"The main thing we found was Sundays with football games are typically pretty bad for domestic violence," said Card, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "Part of the reason is that people are home, drinking."

They considered Las Vegas odds, which predict which team will win and by how much. Upset losses, the most painful kind, led to an 8 percent increase in police reports of domestic violence against women in the home, the study found.

The incidents happened in the hours immediately after the game and occurred across various levels of socioeconomic status and other external factors, suggesting, Card said, that "it's a completely emotional stimulus. It's not like they're poor, it's not like something bad happened to them. It's that a stupid football game turned bad."

The domestic violence incidents were more likely among families with "risk-factors," such as a husband with a violent temper, simmering tensions over something totally unrelated to sports or prior fights, Card said. Alcohol was often a factor.

"In the background are these other factors," he said. "Events like a football game that, say, one of the partners is really paying attention to really set the stage for a small incident to become a major issue."

But Victoria McVicker, chief executive officer of SafeHouse Denver, which serves domestic violence victims and their children, said the argument that a sporting event could prompt abuse is wrong and lets batterers off the hook. She said she has seen no evidence of the problem.

"By saying those things, it just perpetuates this whole myth that if it wasn't for that, they wouldn't be abusers," McVicker said. "It's excusing the behavior. It's almost like a hall pass, when the games are going on. It's not about, 'Oh, I just lost control,' or 'Oh, I have anger management issues.' It's about power and control. These guys don't need any more excuses."

And a victory won't ensure peace. Hundreds of raucous fans ignited bonfires, smashed store windows and overturned cars downtown after the Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers in the 1998 Super Bowl, drawing tear gas from police. A man was shot to death in a Colfax Avenue parking lot, though police at the time couldn't say whether the killing was related to the celebration.

Similar havoc happened after the Broncos' second Super Bowl victory the next year against the Atlanta Falcons, when downtown revelers looted stores, set fires, and ripped down traffic signs and used them as battering rams to break windows, among other bedlam. Officials estimated $180,000 worth of property damage.

"The big game can be a trigger for unexpected events, including riots, property destruction and harassment," said Robert D. McCrie, professor of security management at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "At such a time, particularly in the home territory, the police should cancel leaves that might be on the docket and have a strong force, but also talk about the psychology of successfully dealing with interpersonal disputes, including domestic issues."

Crime analysts study the incidents that arise after games for patterns, so that police officials know where to put manpower in the future, Pazen said. Though their studies haven't linked game outcomes to violence, they do show that crime is more prevalent at night games.

So, as a crime fighter, would Pazen rather see a win or a loss?

"As a born-and-raised Denver resident, I am always hoping for victory," he said. "Would it be easier on the police department if we didn't have to plan for the AFC championship game? Yes. But it's great for the city."